Breaking the Silence
by Alphonso'sPride
Summary: Sophia Camden is a young women struggling to find her voice. Mr. Darcy comes to town on business and quickly befriends her. She gets along well with the Darcy's until a certain cousin of his arrives. Does Sophia know what it truly means to fall in love?
1. Chapter 1

Introduction

Sophia Camden was never an ordinary girl. She never showed much emotion and she preferred to be on her own instead of with other people. She enjoyed isolation which was was very unusual for a girl of sixteen. Sophia would stay home and read rather than go out with friends. About the only thing that was normal with her was, like most girls, she was terrified of spiders and extremely disliked all other insects. Because of this, although she loved the outdoors, she rarely enjoyed them, for the fear of getting tics or running into a spider web.

Several things were known about her. She had blue eyes, blond hair, and a very fair complexion which almost made her look sickly not to mention that she was relatively thin. She was very quiet and was rarely inclined to talk even to her own family. Some would say she was very beautiful, others plain, but everyone knew that she was very intelligent. Her irrational fear of human interaction kept her from proving this fact to strangers, but despite this everyone could tell. There was an aura about her that when you looked into her eyes, you knew she was deep in thought. When put in a room full of people, she would just sit and observe and think the entire time unless someone else happened to start a conversation with her which wouldn't last long.

Sophia had always been shy as a little girl, but this complete want of isolation instilled a sense of fear into her parents. They often talked to each other about her ways and her own two brothers thought something might be wrong with her. On the other hand, her grandmother had the fullest amount of confidence in her. Whenever someone would make a remark on her quiet disposition, her grandmother would reply, 'still water runs deep' and the person would agree.

So since Sophia is so taciturn and reserved, what brings us on this journey of a story about her? This is not the half of it, for what people may see on the outside is only a small fraction of what goes on in the inside of her own great mind. She always loves company, it's just that it can come in the form of an animal and please her just as well or even more so. She has a dog and cat and loves them very much. Little do people know that she has other thoughts stirring deep within the walls of her very being. And so, the story begins.

Chapter 1

As Sophia awoke in the early morning, she immediately fell into her normal cycle. She would go down to enjoy a breakfast made by her very own mother. They did not have a cook because, although the house in which they dwelt was large, the family was relatively poor. She was greeted by her family and gave a small response back, would finish her breakfast, and immediately return to her room. Then she would bathe and dress for the day. She always was dressed rather nicely even though most of her time was spent alone in her room and she rarely went out.

This is where Sophia was, sitting on her window seat looking out into the garden. She was drawing a picture of a flower and was so focused on the lines she was making that she didn't notice the carriage drive by. It was unusual for carriages to pass by since the Camden's lived in the country. The neighbors usually arrived on foot or horseback and only sometimes were carriages driven into town. Besides that, this particular carriage very clearly belonged to a wealthy person and therefore, peaked more interest among the country folk.

Later that day, the Camden's received an invitation to a ball for the next evening. It was a welcoming party for the new guests which came as quite a surprise for the family as they had no idea the newcomers had arrived. Mrs. Camden became flustered and was running about in search of dresses and suits that could be worn to this formal occasion. Sophia had not attended many balls. In fact, she had only been to two before and didn't care much for them. She was a graceful dancer, but her social skills made everything awkward so she disliked to go. She knew her mother would make her attend in an attempt to make her known to the world. Stuck inside the house all day, no one was able to admire her. All of the chatter for the rest of the night was about the upcoming social event which sparked a sense of excitement that flowed throughout the house.

Secretly, Sophia **was** looking forward to this ball. She was starting to feel very lonely and was desiring a male caller. She hoped that she would discover someone of her liking tomorrow night and therefore needed to look her absolute best. She picked out a dress but decided to alter it a bit to fit her older look. She cinched in the waist a little bit and brought the sleeves up to elbow length. She then opened the chest somewhat more and eliminated some of the overbearing ruffles which made it more of her taste rather than her mother who enjoyed showy things. The dress was quite elegant. It was a deep yet light, grey blue color and was made of a silky material. Her father had brought the fabric with him as he came home from town one evening. He said an old woman had given it to him after he helped walk her home. There wasn't enough fabric for Mrs. Camden to make curtains or a dress for herself, but there was just enough to make a dress for Sophia because of her small size. That was about a year ago and luckily, it still fit Sophia. She was only able to wear it once at Christmas and her family was the only ones to see it so she could still wear it out. It was her very favorite dress and this was the perfect occasion for her to wear it.

Sophia stayed up late that night, picturing scenes of dancing and laughter. She wanted to have fun and she wanted a lot of friends, but she couldn't ever bring herself to stand out. Hopefully this dress would help her, but this didn't console her. She knew that she would just blend into the background of people, stand in a corner, and not say a word to anyone. She did have one good friend, Cassandra. She was the one and only person she could fully talk to and even then, she still kept things inside her. Although they were great friends, they didn't talk much but, at the ball Sophia was sure they would. The only problem was that Cassandra would probably constantly have a dancing partner and therefore not have the time to converse with Sophia for that is what usually happened during social gatherings. At last, Sophia was finally able to rest her mind and she fell asleep. Even in her dreams, she was worrying about the dance and was never really at peace.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Sophia woke up to the sound of her dog chasing the cat across the lawn barking wildly in excitement. These two creatures usually got along but, for some reason, at this early hour it was not the case. The sun was just moving above the horizon so there was a gentle pink light shining through her window. Still tired, she slowly moved to the window seat and sat down. _Today is going to be different_ she thought to herself, _and I am going to make sure of it. _Since the rest of the house was just waking and breakfast was not yet ready, she decided to pick up a pencil and parchment. Humming softly to herself, she began to draw eyes. Then came a nose, next a mouth, and soon there was a handsome boy looking up at her through the page. She was surprised to see what she had drawn and set it aside to go downstairs.

"Good morning my sweet." said her mother.

"Good morning" she mumbled back.

"It's pleasant to see you in kitchen at such an hour. Maybe you could help with breakfast because you will need to know how to cook when you are married. In fact, maybe tonight will be a lucky night and you can snatch the heart of a fine young man."

"Oh Mary, is that all you think about? Sophia will find a man when she is good and ready. If you keep pestering her she might be obliged to stay here forever." her father said in a playful manner.

"Good morning father" Sophia replied with a slight giggle.

"Good morning to you my favorite daughter" he said with an amused expression. Mr. Camden always called Sophia his favorite daughter simply because he could. She was his only daughter since she had two older brothers Theodore and Luke. Theodore was already married and lived about a mile away. Luke was still living at home and was always causing trouble. She couldn't imagine how quiet the house would be when he was also married. He hadn't really set his eyes on any particular girl yet and we were all wondering when he would. Although he was very strong-willed, Luke could be a charming young man and would certainly not struggle in life. He was an exact opposite to Sophia and she admired his outgoing nature despite the fact that it was sometimes overbearing.

As she started setting the table for four, she was thinking about her promise that she made to herself as she woke up. _I will talk to someone new at the party, I MUST. _She must have looked distracted because her mother worriedly ask her if she was well.

"Of course I am fine mother! Why do you ask? Do I look ill?"

"My dear you are no paler than usual, but you have a very curious expression on your face as if you are in pain. I was just making sure that everything was alright with you. You don't talk to me a lot about things you know."

"No I'm fine" and she simply left it at that.

Suddenly the family heard the slamming of a door and Luke tripped into the room. His face was beet red and he was panting as if he ran all the way to town. His appearance was so shocking that the room was filled with complete silence.

Mr. Camden, the first to recover asked, "What happened to you?"

"One... moment.... I... need... a break." Luke replied in a most struggling manner. The family patiently waited for him to regain his ability to speak. "Alright, I'm fine now." He chuckled to himself as he saw the startled expressions on his family's faces. "I have great news! A wealthy and prestigious Mr. Darcy is presently staying as a guest at the Brinkley mansion and is expected to stay for three weeks! We shall all get to meet him at the ball this evening. The Miltons told me all about it as I was taking a morning stroll and they think he will be a most delightful acquaintance and a rather important one at that!"

"Oh dear, this is great news! Heaven has shown us much kindness! Hurry! Eat up, breakfast is ready. Sophie I expect that you get ready at once! You must look beautiful for our dear Mr. Darcy." Mrs. Camden shouted overwhelmed by joy. Sophia rolled her eyes at the thought of the long day ahead of her. She knew her mother would be checking in every second to make sure she was preparing herself. And so the Camdens sat down at the table and quickly consumed the morning feast. When the dishes were at last put away, everyone was bustling about in anticipation of the evening which awaited them.


End file.
